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Your estate plan and your divorce

On behalf of San Joaquin Family Law posted in divorce on Thursday, January 3, 2019.

If you are one of the many California residents who has made the difficult decision to separate or divorce your spouse, you may be very focused on the day-to-day logistics of this experience. Things like finding a new place to live, learning how to split time with your kids and ironing out details for your asset and debt division agreement can be very all-consuming. However, there is another part of your life that deserves attention at this time as well - your estate plan.

As explained by Forbes, you probably do not want your estranged or former spouse to be the person responsible for making medical decisions on your part if you are unable to. You also probably do not want that person to have control over your finances if you can't manage them for some reason. These are just some of the things to consider when deciding how to update your estate plan when you separate from your spouse.

One thing you will want to learn before you make any changes to a will or a trust is what you are able to change while you are separated and what must wait until you are legally divorced. If you have a prenuptial agreement in place, you will also want to ensure that any updated will or trust reflects that appropriately, as necessary.

If you would like to learn more about how to manage your estate plan during a marital separation and divorce, please feel free to visit the estate planning and divorce page of our California family law website.

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